Reviews by AmberMan22:

In my opinion, this is what a beer should be. I really enjoy the ESB style because of the exceptional balance between hops and malted grains.

Pours a clear amber hue, decent head retention and a bit of lacing. Smell is is a wonderfully balanced, bready, toast, sweet and hoppy melange.Taste is just what makes everything about beer great. Nothing too polarizing -- you won't find 120 IBU's or burnt, triple fermented malt grains. Just a good, honest beer that delivers great taste.

Maybe slightly too heavy to be a superb session beer (plus I never would've guessed 5.9% ABV) But this is a real winner in my book. Don't care that it's not "bitter" since that's not what the style is about, considering these guys wrote the book on ESB's.

More User Reviews:

Appearance  The body is a slightly hazy brown with a nice orange tint. The head is off-white and full, made up of beautiful tiny bubbles that showed good retention and left a bit of lacing.

Smell  Oh, yeah, this is an English ESB. This is THE English ESB. The malt is remarkable in its clarity. The light grassy hops round things out and there is indeed a bit of caramel afloat, but the huge malt base makes up the bulk of this nose. It is both generous and wonderful.

Taste  Oh, man. Im actually laughing at how this beer tastes. It is so good, and so true to form, that its funny.

The malts are encased in wood and eek a sense of maturity not found in any other beer that Ive had to date. I dont know where they get this flavor from, but it is delicious and quite amazing.

The caramel and toffee notes are the best Ive ever had. There is nothing cheap about this beer. When I think of English ESB this is what comes to mind. This is the standard; no question about it.

Mouthfeel  Perfect. So smooth, so well-blended, and so thoughtful, this beer was made with the mouthfeel in mind. Talk about your happy place.

Drinkability  To answer all those stupid, If you were stuck on a desert island with only one beer . . . questions, this would have to be it. On-tap this has to be a 5. This is THE standard for English ESBs (or any ESBs for that matter).

Amber color. Pleasing malty aroma. Light carbonation. Slight hop bitterness is present, but this is dominated by the slightly sweet malts. Excellent body. Wonderful bitter, even considering this was the USA import version rather than the cask version. Very nice malty finish with some hops presence. Interesting fact: English Bitter, despite the name, is not particularly bitter. All of the American bitters I have tasted thus far are too hoppy to be a true English-style bitter.

One of the most satisfying beers I have ever had.Great rich color,great malty taste with good hop ending.Maybe the standard for an English ESB with it's fruity maltiness and subtle hops in the finish.A mellow sessionable beer that I need to try on cask.

This is supposedly the quintessential ESB, right? Maybe I should have started with this one to have a better benchmark for the style. Pours an amber-copper hybrid with nice clarity and a quality of pureness to it. Beige-ish head, sticks around for a bit but doesn't really do much. Nose is kind of weak and hard to pick up specific notes. Certainly malty and full of bread and yeast; dry and woody, nutty with a bit of caramel/toffee to it. The taste follows right along, hitting with some caramel malts that slowly sink into a sea of sweet, woody flavors. Floral notes are abundant but not overpowering, some fruity sweetness and mild citrus flavors come alive a bit more when the beer gets warmer. It still retains a sharpness to it that is hard to explain, but relevant to the character of the brew. Still very woody and a touch nutty all the way through. Surprisingly not that bitter, especially for an ES"B". Thin-medium body, medium carbonation.

I'm not a super-huge fan of ESB's, but I haven't really had enough to make a judgement call. I will say, however, this is one of the best of the bunch. I wish I would have tried this one before all the others, to get more acquainted with the style. This one goes down smooth and quick, high drinkability. It probably wont be in my regular rotation, but it's still pretty good.

I don't think I've tasted one of these since I first started really appreciating good beer four or five years ago. I was impressed then and remain so now. The balance and fullness of flavor are unparalleled for the style. Big caramel malts provide a sturdy base for the earthy hop bitterness. Finish is dry and sits well. Great beer.

I never thought this beer was much to look at really, and this bottle seems no different. A plainly bronze colored beer with thin, foamy, fading, white head reminds me beer is ultimately there to drink, not look pretty. It all winds up the same color in the end right?

The nose is delicious. Very fresh malt with a slight sweetness and big bubbles of fresh fruit waft up. The taste is classically british. Very soft, subtle, flavors of sweet light malt and ale (or hop?) fruitiness play quietly off of eachother until a quick snap of hop bitter in the finish.

The mouthfeel is almost thick, and very smooth and creamy. If it was more affordable, I'd drink gallons of this.

A note about food pairing... This seems like a natural choice for fish and chips. When I had them together, I don't know why, but the beer took on a very boozy character that was almost overpowering. I'll definately go for something else next time.

Fuller's ESB pour into German Becker glass... Had to use two ll.2 oz. glasses to fill the 20oz glass so I went all the way on this one.

A- Beer pours a amber red color fluid that produces a nice one inch head that falls slowly to an excellent froth leaving patchy lacing relentlessly sticking to the glass.

S- Scents of metal upfront... iron? Then a soft but fresh smell of bitter citrus and carmel malts come out.

T-M- The taste for an English Bitter is dead on. Tangy hops dominate the palate with the mix of citrus, grassy noles, mild hop oil and a bitchin' bitter bite following. Not to bitter, but a bite that leaves you begging for more... on top of that saying "please". Finishes with a pronounced malt backbone of caramel and burnt barley. Mouthfeel is excellent due to the complexity of the beer smooth, slightly creamy and refreshing on the buds.

D- This beer is empressively drinkable with little to deter you from drinking pint after pint in a pub... cheers!

T: Smooth full balanced flavors combine with boldness on the tongue. The complex heavier flavors are complimented nicely with fine but persistent carbonation. Clean finish.

M&D: Full mouthfeel, deceptively heavy for the clear color. Filling and satisfying.

This beverage just has 'classy' all over it. For a brew this full it sure does go down easy. This is the first time I've tried this and I'm really liking it. The flavors stay solid throughout the experience and it just seems to get better with every pull. So far I haven't been disappointed with a Fuller's product.

Best by date: Dec. 13, 04. Pours an orangish-amber color. Nice rocky head, very little lacing. Caramely, malty smell, but there's also a nice frutiness. Tastes biscuity, malty, fruity, but with a pleasent bitterness...very nice. I'd love another pint, but this is my only one...

On tap at the 74th Street Ale House.Appearance is red. Clear. Nice head. Poured into a tulip.Served a little too cold for the style but blossomed nicely as it warmed. Taste is balanced with smooth maltiness and a mild hop feel that balances out very nicely in conformance with the style but not overly bitter.Will definitely keep an eye out for this beer in the future.A very enjoyable beer.

Pours a semi-hazy copper beer with a foamy head that quickly settles to a thin ring lace with slight stick. Aroma is soft, but of coarse hops, but for the most part rather clean.

Medium in body, and smooth. Juicy, chewy mouthfeel. Mildly fruity. Lots of mineral flavours (from the water), followed by a woody, earthy, hop leaf, and coarse flavour and feel. Pear-like texture at times. Little sweetness, it's all body. Touch of roasted malt character in the background. Dry. Sharp bitter edge. Salty. Tingly. Herbal / spicy. Hops kick it all the way into the finish, and stick around long after the mouth party is over.

"The World's Original Extra Special Bitter" ... perhaps, but there's better interpretations of the style in my opinion. Still, the quintessential ESB and a beer everyone should try -- at the very least for the sturdy, impressive bottle.